West Ham currently sit fifth in the Premier League table, just one point adrift of the Champions League places, but feel somewhat aggrieved after Saturday's 2-2 draw with Chelsea.

Slaven Bilic's men twice led at Stamford Bridge, but were twice pegged back with controversial goals from Chelsea, as Guus Hiddink's men benefited from two questionable refereeing decisions.

Still, West Ham are in contention for a surprise position in the Champions League, with Manchester City in dire form and Manchester United dreadfully inconsistent, with Bilic looking to cap off a stunning first season as Hammers boss by guiding his side to Europe's top club competition.

Now, West Ham's co-chairman David Sullivan has told the Daily Mail that whilst he can't allow himself to really think about Champions League qualification, but did acknowledge that making it to the qualifying rounds this summer would bring in around £9.4m, with progression racking up the money, as Juventus found last season.

"You can’t allow yourself to think about that. I’m too busy! Sorting the Manchester United FA Cup replay time. And anyway, if you finish fourth, you don’t qualify, you have to pre-qualify," said Sullivan. "And we would be unseeded, so it would be a difficult fixture against the third-best team in Spain, or something like that. I had my eye on Arsenal and third, but we needed Everton to get something and they didn’t."

"I know it’s worth about €12m (£9.4m). And you can hardly get a player for that! We’ve just signed Lanzini on a permanent deal for that sort of money. Juventus went all the way last season and it was worth €67m (£52m) to them. And we’re not going to go all the way, are we?" he added.

Olly Dawes

Olly is a Sports Management graduate and aspiring journalist, with most of his work surrounding football or NFL. He has formed two of his own sites, as well as contributing to a number of others before starting with Here Is The City.